Parties such as the Sweden Democrats, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Finland’s Blue Reform party are first concentrating on winning big in the European elections to infiltrate Brussels with eurosceptics in a bid to change the EU from the inside. The Sweden Democrats this week dropped their plans to hold a referendum on Sweden’s membership of the EU until after Brexit. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson said: “To fight against the supranationality of today one needs to be pragmatic. Related articles 'EU wants POWER!' German minister reveals why EU will NOT budge UK officials start ‘serious work’ on UK staying in customs union “While we watch and wait for the outcome of Brexit, the first step is to operate from inside the EU’s high citadel in Brussels.” Sweden Democrat MEP Peter Lundgren added: "For the first time, there's a real possibility of reforming the EU from the inside. "That is what we are going to work for over the coming mandate period and also campaign on in the next election." In January, the nationalist AfD party put plans for a Brexit-style referendum on hold ahead of May’s elections. Eurosceptics have set their sights on the European Parliament elections in May (Image: GETTY) AfD leader Alexander Gauland said: “We don’t need to abolish the EU, but to bring it back to its sensible core.” While Sampo Terho, Finland’s Minister of European Affairs and co-founder of the Blue Reform party, backtracked on his 2017 call for a ‘Fixit’ vote. Mr Terho insisted Finland should “fight for a better EU, not to get out of the EU”. Populist and eurosceptic parties are expected to perform well in the May elections. Related articles EU's bid to snatch UK airline shares in no deal Brexit REVEALED Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity reaches all-time LOW over Brexit policy It comes as the UK is battling to strike a Brexit deal with the bloc ahead of March 29, the date Britain is due to leave the EU. Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Britain’s exit date could be delayed to give the Government more time to pass “critical legislation”. In response, leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said that a brief extension to Article 50 "is not impossible” provided it is not an attempt to “thwart” Brexit. Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “If the agreement were made but a little parliamentary time were needed, as long as the second reading had taken place a short extension is not impossible. "Equally, to delay for the purpose of vacuous discussions would be solely to thwart Brexit. It must not be for that purpose and should be opposed if negotiations are incomplete."All rights reserved for this news site express.co.uk and under his responsibility